The English language occupies a prominent position in the nation's life. It is the language of education and by extension, the language of the classroom. Most of the subjects at the different levels of education in Nigeria are taught in English. Unfortunately, many students still perform poorly in spelling and pronunciation. The research tries to find out why students perform poorly in these aspects of spoken and written English. Three secondary schools in Nnewi North Educational zone were used for the study. Data were collected through an unobtrusive observation, spelling tests and an unstructured interview. Contrastive Analysis theory was used in the analysis of data. The findings from the study reveal that the problems were due to faulty learning, over generalization, poor foundation, lack of interest, mother tongue interference, fossilization, negative transfer and lack of motivation. The paper proffers solution on how to reduce students' problem of spelling and pronunciation errors in spoken and written English to the barest minimum.
The study aims at ascertaining the actual implication of bride pricing system in traditional marriages in Igbo land. A total of fifty respondents (thirty women and twenty men) from the five states that make up the southeast zone in Nigeria were selected for the study. Being a qualitative research, the study adopted the ethnographic research design and employed a purposive non-probability sampling method in selecting the respondents. The study made use of focused group discussions, unstructured interview and participants’ observation method as instruments of data collection. The collection of data lasted for a period of six months from June 2020 to November 2020. The research is anchored on Radical and Snail sense Feminism theories and data for the study were analysed using descriptive thematic method. Findings from the study reveal that payment of bride price does not reduce women to mere commodities in Igbo land. It also reveals that it gives undue privileges to men in Igbo land among other findings. Finally, it was shown that Igbo men and women still regard bride price payment as an important aspect of their culture which should not be abolished.
The issue of national language and national development has been at the forefront of language issues in nation-states. The persistent demand for a national language seems to stand from the point of view that it will engender national development. The present study critically examines the case of Nigeria from the historical perspective, the case of a single national language and its role in national development, or otherwise, in a densely multi-linguistic and pluralistic Nigeria. Finally, the paper makes an attempt at formulating an appropriate and comprehensive choice of language policy that recognizes the language of the people across geographical boundaries and the exogenous language in order to foster generic development, national cohesion and accelerated national development.
Igbo proverbs (Ilu Igbo) are linguistic expressions which projects principles with the intent to address diverse social, political, economic and culturally contextual issues that bother on values, morals and the identity of the Igbo people of Eastern Nigeria. Proverbs are handed down to different generations by speech acts of storytelling, conversing, rebuking or admonishing. The researchers carried out a pragmatic analysis of Igbo proverbs as a social practice, to establish their meaning and how its social significance are internalized and continually recreated. Language is central to the process of producing meaning. Using the Theory of Pragmeme by Jacob Mey (2001), the paper evaluates the pragmatic acts, the extent to which some of these proverbs are reformed and doctored, yet, maintain qualities of the Igbo culture while accommodating the identity of the 21st century ideology of the Igbo people. Primary and secondary methods of data collection are adopted. Being a qualitative study, the research randomly selected 12 Igbo proverbs that cut across the five Igbo speaking states of eastern Nigeria. The findings are that Igbo proverbs are essentially custodians of the Igbo cultural identity and orientalism, most proverbs have been moderated to fit the emerging trends in the identity of the Igbo ancestry.
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